The musicians donated their services so that all of the proceeds benefit "Friends in Need", a non-profit , charitable organization serving the chronically ill, poor, and the jazz drummer, Gus Johnson, JR.

"A rip-roaring album that not only proves Vache's versatility as a clarinetist, but also asserts the continuing vitality of creative mainstream jazz. Vache ranges from leading a sextet with a classic trad jazz front line of cornet, clarinet and trombone plus rhythm section all the way down to drumless duo and trio tracks. And along the way he finds creative ways with arrangements and repertoire ranging from New Orleans classic style to New Orleans R&B shuffle, uptempo swing to slow ballads, as welll as songs ranging from pop and jazz standards to a Mexican song and a chart-topping pop hit from the Sixties." - George Kanzler, contributing editor, Hothouse Jazz Magazine; member, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; retired jazz and arts edito for the Newark Star Ledger

"For lovers of the clarinet a new record by Allan Vache is a jazz event. Allan is a unique player. He is absolutely fearless as an improvisor. He is one of the very few clarinetists who can play to the top of the range - high "C" and even a "D" -- without piercing the listener's ears. His middle and low registers reveal a lush tone that lends his playing great warmth. He makes a sport out of improvisation. Allan's playing is as inventive -- and exciting -- as any clarinetist on the scene, today." -- Rick Fay, musician and columnist for The Mississippi Rag

"Andy's style, rooted in ragtime and stride piano (there are only a handful of pianists on the planet who can play Carolina Shout as cleanly and creatively as he does on this disc), also incorporates some modern heroes: The right-hand filigree of Art Tatum; the swaggering left-hand groove of Dave McKenna; the luscious harmonies of Keith Jarrett; Dick Hyman's left-hand counterpoint." -Tom McDermott, noted pianist, composer, arranger and journalist

"Jazz is a great leveler. National origins, language hurdles, stylistic differences - none of these are important when there is spontaneous blending of musical minds in a jazz setting. Rick and Andy, though separated in age by decades, are as naturally at home together as fraternal twins. However, I think it's obvious that Rick the elder takes pride in helping to present a pianist who is (to steal a line from Down Beat magazine) deserving of wider recognition. For Andy Fielding, the best may be yet to come. But, judging from this gratifying session, the present is very good indeed." - Richard Hadlock (Author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties and Host of The Annals of Jazz, on KCSM-FM San Mateo, California.)

"An intoxicating jazz cocktail comprised of solos, duos, trios and quartets....interpreting the repertoire, embellishing the music as the jazz creators meant it to be." - Arnold Jay Smith, former editor of Down Beat, celebrating during 1998-9 the XXth season of his "Jazz Insights" lectures at the New School in N.Y.C.

As you will hear quite clearly, Bernd's playing has gained complete maturity. His command of the keyboard is impressive, the touch and the nuances totally under control. His ideas are fresh and evocative, his execution flawless.

An outstanding collection of jazz all stars pay their respects to a great master, Bix Beiderbecke, on the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth on March 10, 1903, by faithfully presenting his immortal solos and leads in a new and creative setting, scored variously for a variety of instruments from Dick Hyman's solo piano, to 3 cornets, 3 C-melody saxes, 3 clarinets, a brass choir, and a brass and woodwind group. They help answer the question as to why Bix still retains the power to inspire us 72 years after his death.

"Bob Dorough rise to national fame as the music director and composer of many of the songs heard on Schoolhouse Rock...Now he is enthraliing a whole new generation of admirers at the midtown Manhattan jazz boite at 51st Street and Broadway called Iridium, singing his songs and leading a stellar quartet there most Sundays." - Paul Blair

"Recorded at the first of Arbors' memorable March of Jazz parties, in tribute to Bob Haggart on his 80th birthday, each of these three peerless participating pianists is a stylist, but each also knows how to adapt to the demands of the duo... This memento of a truly memorable piano party is dedicated to the three great gentlemen performing there who have left us, Hag, Milt and Ralph, but who would want us to remember them on the happy kind of note they brought to this and so many other joyful gatherings." from the album notes by Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University

"The 1994 March of Jazz was a first in more ways than one. It kicked off what has become one of the foremost annual jazz events, combining the best elements of the festival and party genres, and it was the first in a series of birthday tributes to senior jazz greats. There could hardly have been a better choice than Bob Haggart for first celebrant. Universally respected as a bassist and arranger of the first rank and greatly admired as a man by all who had the pleasure of knowing him, he was indeed someone about whom not a bad word was ever spoken. And the warm feelings his colleagues had for him infuse the fine sounds captured herin." from the album notes by Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University

"Acclaimed clarinetist Kenny Davern, effortlessly spinning out brilliantly articulate lines that often nudge the outer limits of his horn's tonal range, has brought a very select group of fine jazzmen to the studio to carry out his musical designs."- Floyd Levin (Award winning jazz writer, producer, lyricist and contributor of oral history interviews to the Jazz Archive at Tulane University)

This isn't a Mariachi band, bur a hard swinging Jazz band. The Three Amigos played together on a cruise ship in Mexican waters when they first played together. This band swings throughout. Highly recommended.

"Bob Wilber, in company with tenor saxophonists Harry Allen, Antti Sarpila and Tommy Whittle, demonstrate their mutual love and affection for the master, Coleman Hawkins, performing a series of arrangements and original tunes aimed at capturing the Hawkins sound with a sax section." - Producer's note

"Bob Wilber stretches out on clarinet, curved and straight soprano, tenor and alto, creating a variety of sounds and feelings, while performing a varied repertoire expressing his love of melody, including three original compositions."

This "Reunion at Arbors" unites Wilber and Davern for their first studio recording in many years, in the tradition of the great series of Soprano Summit and Summit Reunion recordings.
"This eminently satisfying CD is a prime example of that special chemistry that has always existed between Kenny Davern and Bob Wilber....This particular recording, which was made after Bob and Kenny played together at the March of Jazz festival at Clearwater Beach, Florida in the Spring of 1997, is among their best and certainly one of their most distinctive." - Ross Firestone, author of the award-winning Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman.

Bob Wilber, a master interpreter of classic jazz reed styles, has brought together for this session some giants of small band swing who performed in Florida at the 1998 International March of Jazz weekend jazz party. Carrying out the "international" theme, the all-star group, including world-class musicians from Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, Canada and, of course, The United States, proves once again that "Everywhere You Go There's Jazz."

In this Volume Two follow up to the critically acclaimed Fletcher Henderson's Unrecorded Arrangements for Benny Goodman (*****- Down Beat), Bob Wilber and the Tuxedo Big Band of Toulouse, France tackle more unrecorded arrangements by Henderson and by 14 more of Goodman's best writers, in addition to a Wilber original. They once again capture the essence of Goodman's style and sound but with their own fresh interpretations, making for the ultimate in big band swing.

"A lot of good records come out every year, but very few of them could be called an event. This one can. An unearthed treasure trove of arrangements written by Fletcher Henderson for Benny Goodman but never previously recorded now brought to life by Bob Wilber and a swinging big band filled with first-rate soloists -- well, that's not the sort of thing that happens every day." - Ross Firestone, author of the award-winning Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman.

Bob Wilber'sfirst big band recording of his own music, live on video, in concert, at the 1996 March of Jazz. The concert is presented exactly the way it was performed by vocalist Joanne "Pug" Horton and a hand-picked group of all-stars. Sixteen selections including eleven of Bob's originals.
The concert is presented exactly the way it was performed by vocalist Joanne "Pug" Horton and a hand-picked group of all-stars. Sixteen selections including eleven of Bob's originals.

This being Joe Marsal's centennial year, Bobb Gordon pays a special tribute to his mentor and friend. A wonderful CD. The liner notes are by Eleisa Marsala Trampler the daughter of Joe Marsal and Adele Girard, and who better to know about Joe, Adele and Bobby.

Bobby Gordon leads an outstanding group of musicians, featuring arrangements by Keith Ingham, in a tribute to Bing Crosby, reintroducing to today's audiences and giving a jazz feel to 19 cream-of-the-crop songs that were propelled to popularity by Crosby years ago. - Producer's note

In their first pairing on record, the two Bob's, joined by John Sheridan, David Stone and Tony DeNicola, demonstrate their affinity for the nostalgic, in a program of beautiful tunes performed with elegance and grace. With quiet missionary resolve, they are helping to guarantee that the kind of inventive, melodic, swinging jazz associated with the jazz masters of the past continues to reach the ears of 21st Century audiences.

The quintessential Bobby Gordon, performing a program of his special favorites in a small group setting, abetted by the remarkable pianistics of Dave McKenna and a swinging rhythm section of Frank Tate and Joe Ascione. "This happy encounter is very much in the tradition of clarinet teamed up with just piano and maybe a couple of rhythm and shows how satisfying this format continues to be and how many new pleasures it still has to offer." - Ross Firestone, author of Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman.

With Special Guest Adele Girard Marsala. A recording to be treasured. Graceful and elegant classic jazz featuring the mellow clarinet of Bobby Gordon with Adele Girard Marsala, the premier jazz harpist, and with widow of Bobby's teacher, Joe Marsala,in her final performance.
"When I heard these ethereal sounds, I thought I had died and gone to heaven" -- Floyd Levin, jazz writer for numerous publications.

Brian Ogilvie's first recording as leader is a blazing debut on reeds in company with John Sheridan, his former mate in Jim Cullum's Jazz Band, Dan Barrett, Phil Flanigan and Jeff Hamilton. - Producer's note.

Highlighting the talents of a refreshingly individual trumpet player from California, Bryan Shaw, "who has unobtrusively played his way into the front rank of distinguished contemporary mainstream musicians, backed here by an all-star cast, including Dan Barrett, Scott Robinson, Dave Frishberg, Bucky Pizzarelli and the song stylings of Rebecca Kilgore... Were this recording made in 1945 as several Keynote albums, it would surely occupy space in my collection alongside sets by Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Joe Thomas and Benny Carter. I can think of no higher praise than that." -- Richard Hadlock: Author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties & host of The Annals of Jazz on KCSM-FM San Mateo, CA

The theory of playing to enhance the other person's sound is overwhelmingly present on the 12 classic songs on this CD and the interplay sounds as if it's one mind playing two guitars. This is pujre Pizzarelli magic at its finest.

Bucky pays homage to Bill Challis with this CD titled "Challis In Wonderland". Bill Challis was a fine arranger ahead of his time and was an intimate musical collaborater of Bix Beiderbecke, transcribing the piano solos Bucky performs here on guitar. Bucky wrote "Challis in Wonderland" in Bill's honor. This is a fine CD throughout.

Bucky Pizzarelli reminisces about his 60+ years as a professional guitarist in a CD that could have been titled "The Art Of The Ballad." In it he demonstrates the myriad ways that lovely songs belonging to "The Great American Songbook" can be reworked, distilled and reharmonized, often as his moving inner voices, his bass lines, all devices that breath new life into these American popular classics - Marty Grosz

A second masterpiece by Bucky Pizzarelli exploring classic jazz guitar. A must addition for any jazz album collection. "Jazz guitarists come and go, usually in a flurry of flying fingers, but Bucky Pizzarelli has been with us for nearly six decades. A meticulous craftsman and elegant stylist, Pizzarelli is a living link to such guitar pioneers as Django Reinhardt, George Van Eps, and George Barnes; there's not a standard or swing tune his seven-string instrument hasn't spun into pure gold." -- The New Yorker, December 18, 2000.

"Sometimes it is strange the way things happen. In January of this year (1999), I reached my friend Bucky in London for an interview. Shortly after we exchanged greetings he began to play for me some compositions by Eddie Lang and Carl Kress on his new Benedetto 7-string guitar. I knew the original recordings, but while he was playing I had a very clear feeling. I was listening to the most important heir of a tradition that we could define as "archtop guitar music." A tradition founded by Lang and Kress and then continued by artists like George Van Eps, George W. Smith and Bucky himself, but which has been kept in the shadows for too long. This unique blending of classical harmony and jazz language is the real American answer to European classical guitar. On this precious recording, Maestro Bucky Pizzarelli plays wonderfully some of the best of these compositions. Listening to them, many people will want to know why such beautiful music has been, until today, so overlooked. It seemed quite obvious to suggest to Bucky the idea of recording this material alone, on the acoustic archtop. When I told him, he had a sparkle in his eyes. As a guitar player and jazz lover I now thank him for realizing it." - Michele Ariodante, jazz guitarist and regular contributor to Axe magazine. Rome, Italy, March, 1999

Buddy DeFranco shows us he still knows how to swing in this exciting session backed by all stars Lou Soloff, Rufus Reid, Joe Chon, Howrd Alden and Ed Metz, Jr. Dare we say this is a tribute to Buddy's cat Charlie? If so, it is a swinging tribute to the Charlie.

Buddy DeFranco joins with the popular John Pizzarelli Trio and Butch Miles to prove that he is still "Mr. Clarinet." Swinging from start to finish, DeFranco shows that same dexterity and musica passion that made him a pioneer in exploring the clarinet for be-bop and one of the all time clarinet greats. The John Pizzarelli Trio, another paragon of swing, and Butch Miles, who has swung the Count Basie Orchestra for many years, provide the rhythmic base, and John Pizzarelli adds two vocals in his crowd-pleasing way.

Introducing to American audiences a brilliant young German pianist, Chris Hopkins, whose swing-oriented and stride-inspired piano playing finds its roots in Earl "Fatha" Hines, Teddy Wilson and Jess Stacy, as well as in the stridemasters of Harlem, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and Willie "The Lion" Smith. "Chris Hopkins," Dan Barrett enthuses, "is one of the most talented young piano players I've heard. I just flipped when I first heard him because he's not yet out of his twenties and, although his playing reflects his study of the men who created jazz piano, he brings his own ideas to the table." -Producer's Note

Solo piano by a master of stride and all-around player.
"Chuck Folds is my favorite pianist. He plays great stride, and he does it his own way. And Chuck knows a lot of tunes. He has a feeling for melody - you hear that all the time in his solos. And heýs a good accompanist. I'm glad Chuck has made a solo record. He should be much better known." -- Doc Cheatham, July 1993, the incomparable trumpet legend in whose quartet Chuck has played Sunday brunches at Sweet Basil since 1980.

"Of all the musicians I've played with, none has touched people's hearts more than Doc Cheatham. His humanity charm and good naturedness rode on every note. . . . I was lucky beyond words to play so many, many gigs - for nearly a quarter of a century - with that extraordinary guy. And to be his close friend, as was my wife, Jane. Doc's spirit will be with me all the way down the road." - Chuck Folds.

"Ever since hearing the 1993 Arbors release of No Greater Love (ARCD 19121) and reinforced by recordings for the Delmark label and live performances at the Montreaux-Detroit Jazz Festival, this writer has remained firmly convinced that Chuck Hedges is likely one of the greatest living clarinetists active on the American jazz scene. His fluent dexterity, wealth of ideas and unflappable swing make him a target for others to shoot for, but hte loft is quite high indeed. For all the years plying his trade on a brand of Dixie-to-swing that personifies the core values of jazz, it is unbelievable to note that Chuck Hedges has made no more than a handful of recordings. That Arbors has afforded him another opportunity to document his music elevates this CD to major event status." Michael G. Nastos, who writes for The All Music Guide and Cadence Magazine and hosts a jazz show on WEMU, 89.1 FM, Ypsilanti, Michigan

Chuck Hedges, long considered one of the finest jazz clarinetists with a trio of friends, performing with great beauty and harmonic subtlety.
"An inspired performance: swinging, fluid and articulate." - Eddie Higgins, one of the premier jazz pianists.

"Timeless music! An album to prove worng those who say, 'They don't make 'em like that anymore.'" - Chip Deffaa, the jazz critic of The New York Post for the 15 years and author of numerous books about jazz.

"Melody in Swing finds trombonist and arranger Dan Barrett returning to the classic small band jazz setting we heard on his previous critically acclaimed Jubilesta! This time Barrett is leading a quintet - a perfect theater for his imaginative arrangements, his warm tone and lyrical sound' . It's all here: (a) testimonial to how jazz's musical past has woven its way into the musical present of this gifted trombonist." -- John Breckow, Former host of Smoke Rings on radio station KPFK-FM Los Angeles, California

"Dan Barrett has once more put together a swing session which is neither buried in the past nor draped over today's trendy jazz clich's. Rather, it just glows in the light of a timeless and inspired musicianship....Rebecca Kilgore has gradually refined her vocal gifts and stands now, I believe, as a leading interpreter of America's classic popular songs. Her easy, musicianly way of bringing forth each tune's best qualities is very special, carefully nurtured artistry." - Dick Hadlock, author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties and host of The Annals of Jazz, on KCSM-FM San Mateo, California.

"Jazz is obviously now an International music. What a joy it is to be associated with such remarkable talents as are on the Dan Barrett/Tom Baker session. There's still plenty of inspiration and creativity to be heard in this celebration of the rich tradition of jazz of a golden era." - Jim McLeod, whose "Jazztrack" on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, is the only national radio show in that country.

"On this latest disc, only Dan's second as sole leader, his playing is to the fore. I can't think of very many recent offerings with trombone as the only horn, or of many trombonists who could meet such a challenge, but Dan Barrett comes through with flying colors. What is striking here is not just his secure technique, consistently superb intonation, and mastery of mutes (the plunger in particular), but the maturity of his conception and the beauty of his sound. And all this is at all times at the service of the music; the message is always there." -- Dan Morgenstern, jazz editor and producer and the Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University.

This recording introduces trombonist Al Jenkins, a long overlooked hero of the jazz scene and a strong influence on the developing talents of the teen-aged Dan Barrett, to a new generation of listeners. As Dan has written about his first meeting with Al, "His ensemble playing was different than any I had heard up to that time. He literally had his own way of swinging. He found just the right notes to impart the fullest harmony, and delivered them with that utterly relaxed, irresistible swing. I felt I was in the presence greatness." And, as listeners to this recording will find, the stunning vibrancy of his trombone still possesses the power to accelerate the pulse. -- Producer's Note

After having played concerts, festivals and parties as a soloist in recent years with many of the top jazz players in the world, Dan Barrett has hand picked a band out of his favorites among them. The result is Blue Swing, a collection of brilliant individuals who have developed the cohesion and that rare combination of relaxation and precision achieved only by the great jazz organizations. "If this CD doesn't earn them a solid place on the new-millennial jazz scene, we're in trouble." -- Jim Leigh, a novelist & journalist whose monthly column "West Coasting" appears in the Mississippi Rag.

"As the man says, no sobs, no sorrows, no sighs, simply swing, as Daryl and her fellows tak on some of the brightest songs by Richard Rodgers." - Max Wilk, author of They're Playing Our Song and OK! The Story of Oklahoma who writes frequently about the Broadway theatre

Cole Porter's lyric "flow sweet music" sums up the spirit of this album by the sophisticated yet swinging song stylist Daryl Sherman, making her Arbors Records debut with a choice potpourri of non-hits from hit films and shows, quality pop and jazz tunes in need of rediscovery, Sherman originals and two or three evergreens. In the company of ten of New York's most accomplished players, under the direction of trombonist Dan Barrett and featuring a bevy of his witty and inventive arrangements, Daryl again demonstrates, in the words of The New Yorker, that she "has yet to meet a standard whose charms she couldn't extract."
- Paraphrased from the album notes by James Gavin, whose profiles of pop and jazz personalities appear in the New York Times and the Village Voice.

"Jubilee" is a package bursting with good ideas. The simple act of getting Daryl Sherman and Dave McKenna together in the studio is, for my dough, concept enough to sustain an album. McKenna is a category unto himself and Daryl is a perfect bridge between the not so dissimilar worlds of cabaret and jazz, a brilliant interpreter who treats the melody as something to have fun with. - Paraphrased from the album notes by Will Friedwald, the author of Jazz Singing and Sinatra! The Song Is You, and
co-author with Tony Bennett of The Good Life.

"Once you immerse yourself in Frishbergiana, the constant astonishment can tire you out if you're not careful. This is how to be careful with Frishberg: don't listen to one of his discs more than once a day, even though you're inclined at times to listen to nothing but. Frishberg, who dazzles with word play, exemplifies the high ground of wit, craft and musical imagination, displayed here so generously." - Daniel Okrent, writer and editor who has written about jazz for Esquire, Time, Fortune and other publications and was for several years a senior editorial executive at Time, Inc.

"It has been a couple of decades since Dave Frishberg made a mostly piano album. A few years ago, the cornetist and author Richard Sudhalter wrote of his friend and collaborator: "David and his songs have amassed such a cult following that people often forget he's one of the very best jazz pianists we have. I sometimes wonder whether even he has to be reminded once in a while.' Something reminded him. Four of the 14 pieces here have vocals; you can't expect a guy with his singing habit to go cold turkey. Two of them are brand new Frishberg songs. But in this collection, he concentrates on the keyboard." - Doug Ramsey, celebrated author and contributor to the leading jazz periodicals.

The incomparable pianist and entertainer Dave Frishberg and the exceptional cornetist Jim Goodwin are partners in a program of unique and unusual jazz performances.
"Here is high-risk but wonderfully spontaneous jazz, bristling with untested and daring ideas, last-second saves and a few out-and-out fluffs. And here are unique dialogues involving two remarkably talented instrumentalists, each listening with obvious pleasure to the other from the first note to the last." -- Richard Hadlock, critic, radio host and author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties.

Dave McKenna again shows his understated technique, as well as his love of melody from which he seldom strays too far. The audience at the concert was filled with musicians, something which usually happens at his appearances. They always come to hear his wonderful way of phrasing; how he often re-writes the song without losing the melody; his many medleys (he perhaps knows more medleys than any other living pianist today); his marvelous left hand, always unpredictable, ranging from single notes, through full chords and stride and everything in between. Some of the songs he plays here he has recorded before but it really doesn't matter because every time Dave plays a song it is totally different. A change in keys, tempo and phrasing, all of which makes it very exciting to hear Dave play. - from the album notes by Producer, Gunnar Jacobsen, who recently retired as President of the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors.

"Throughout, one is impressed by the nimbleness of Derek's fingers - and his mind. With the virtuosity of Art Tatum, the sophistication of Teddy Wilson, and audacious boppishness of Bud Powell, Derek is a man for all seasons, an artist and entertainer whose musical genius transcends categories. He also possesses the now seemingly rare ability to make his musical points within the compass of three or four minutes. With Derek, less is more! High Energy is a gas! -Dr. Chuck Berg, University of Kansas, is a contributor and reviewer for JazzTimes, Down Beat and Jazz Educators Journal; a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Jazz and The Gramophone Guide to CD Jazz, and a Voting Member, National Academy of Recording Arts and Science

"The release of this wonderful material finally makes available a portion of a great body of Dick Cary's music that has never before been accessible to the public. These are the orchestral sounds previously heard only by his "Tuesday Night Friends," a dedicated rehearsal band assembled from the vast community of talented musicians in Southern California. The weekly performances of the rehearsal band continue to this day and will go on so long as these wonderful musicians are able to play. They estimate it will take ten years to play through the stockpile of great material that Dick Cary left behind on his death in 1994." -- Floyd Levin, award winning jazz writer whose oral history interview of Dick Cary is in the Jazz Archive at Tulane University in New Orleans

A rousing 19-number compilation of Cary originals and arrangements that is a true celebration of his unique musical personality, humor and, of course, genius, as performed by an all-star big band of his Tuesday Night Friends.

"There is really nothing that can prepare one for the effervescence that erupts after they sit down at their respective pianos and start sending shock waves and undulations of beautiful, seamless chords and runs. You know that years of practice and work have gone into what each brings to the table, and yet it all seems so fresh and of the moment... The amazing thing is, no matter how many times you've heard them play the same number, it's always different, never mechanical One time Dick will take the melody, the next it'll be Derek. Sometimes they don't know themselves until they're into it, creating new ideas, taking new chances, never losing the story line but building more subplots than Tolstoy. And swinging better than Tolstoy. Boy, do they swing!" - Jim Lowe, long-time New York and national radio personality and musicologist.

" 'Novelty Piano' These beautiful, often haunting, piano pieces performed by Dick Hyman and John Sheridan come to us like a forgotten dream we may struggle to recall. They were once at the center of American popular culture, but memories of this anomaly now barely flicker on a horizon blurred by the passing years. Dick Hyman and John Sheridan are veteran sages who have been drawn together over and over to perform dual piano programs, and their abilities to play two pianos as one have been steadily refined over a period of almost fifteen years. Much of the music on this CD is laced with a bittersweet flavor which will charm the listener, and, while all selections are period pieces, all have upon renewed listening a freshness that is timeless." - From the album notes by Jim Cullum, the proprietor of the famous San Antonio restaurant, The Landing, which is the home of his renowned Jim Cullum Jazz Band and the site of the weekly PBS radio show Riverwalk, Live From The Landing.

"Bix Beiderbecke and George Gershwin were musical geniuses. Both admired and greatly benefitted from hearing the works of the early 20th century European impressionist composers...Whole tones, the keystone of impressionis, gave jazz a very important ingredient which innovators like Bix and George used to great advantage." -

Doctor Dick Hyman (he was granted an honorary degree in 1996 by Wilkes College), one of the master jazz musicians of our time, debuts as a leader on Arbors Records. His playing is a virtual encyclopedia of the history of jazz piano and if there is a pianist, or for that matter a musician on any instrument, who comes close to doing everything best, it is Dick. The sheer scope of his playing amazes musicians, particularly pianists, and it is enhanced on this recording by his interplay with the members of his trio, Howard Alden on guitar and Bob Haggart on bass. Cheek to Cheek contains the most diverse repertoire ever performed by Dick on a single recording, including works by Thelonious Monk, Billy Strayhorn, John Lewis, Flip Phillips, Bob Haggart, show tunes by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin and two originals of his own. It is a virtuoso performance whose subtleties bear repeated listening.

"Dick Wellstood was my very close friend and musical soulmate for 25 years. I heard Dick at his best and at his worst and I can guarantee you that at his worst he was better than most players are at their best. I can also tell you that on this night in Dublin, Ireland, Dick was captured on tape at his best." --Kenny Davern

This double CD is foot-stomping Dick Wellstood, live and in person, preserving all of the atmosphere and bantering with an audience of jazzers, who had braved the elements to hear one of the piano masters at work and at play, on a November night in 1986 at the Sticky Wicket in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Donnie O´Brien, a talented drummer who has worked regularly in the New York area since the early 1970s, makes his recording debut on this meeting with Bucky Pizzarelli, John Bunch and Jay Leonhart, together with saxophone great, Carmen Leggio. The music is very much in a Basie vein with the musicians sounding relaxed, leaving space for each other and swinging lightly, with O´Brien playing with much subtlety and yet with plenty of quiet drive, making for a most enjoyable CD.

"Dottie Dodgion, who has carved a fine reputation as a drummer, not only sings, but does it with understanding and a vibrant, singular approach that is infectious and full of surprise-changing the lyric emphasis and taking little turns that are not only pleasing but apropos." -- Stuart Troup (Formerly a jazz critic for New York Newsday and co-author with Woody Herman of his book "The Woodchoppers Ball.")

"Although the year 2000 marks my 50th year as a professional and I have been recording since 1957, I've never made an entirely solo album. Playing solo piano presents both challenges and opportunities. Obviously, there's no place to hide: you're the rhythm section, the soloist and the arranger all rolled into one, so every note counts. On the other hand, the freedom is complete: if you feel like a change of key, tempo or meter (or even of song!) it's up to you without having to explain anything to anybody. I've been lucky in my career in the sense that I've been able to work solo, duo, trio (a lot), with horns and with singers, one of my favorite formats. All of them have their own delights, but playing solo on a great instrument for an appreciative audience ranks pretty high for me." - Eddie Higgins.

"It's such a wonderful surprise to put on a CD by a group of musicians you've never even heard of before and suddenly find yourself caught up in a program of music that is so imaginatively conceived and performed with such warmth, skill and swing that by the time the performance ends you've come to feel that you've spent the last hour or so in the company of old friends. That's what happened to me upon first listening to this superb CD by Engelbert Wrobel's Swing Society who make their American debut on this recording....Engelbert and his colleagues are joined on about half the tracks by Dan Barrett, who deserves our thanks not only for his sterling contributions on both trombone and cornet but for bringing the Swing Society to Arbors' attention" -Ross Firestone, author of Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman.

"For this first album of his own Eddie, a virtuoso banjo player, has selected a balanced program of dixieland warhorses, lovely forgotten songs, a couple of nutty novelties and solid swing standards.
"Fast Eddie Erickson's debut album is a dandy ?" -- Richard Hadlock, critic, radio host and author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties.

"As more Listeners in this country and around the world get to hear FIVE PLAY. DIVA, and the growing number of other jazzwomen, the sheer joy and strength of their music will effortlessly bring pleasure - in Duke Ellington liberating phrase - beyond category: This is a CD with swinging joy in the solos and ensembles, ballads that are like overhearing an intimate conversation, one that is full of continual surprises - such is the challenging nature of this music."
From the album notes by Nat Hentoff, celebrated author, journalist and jazz authority who writes about jazz for the Wall Street Journal and Jazz Times

Sherrie Maricle, the exciting drummer and leader of the all woman big band, Diva, has assembled a quintet of talented ladies for her band within a band, resulting in a hard driving jazz program with varying moods, rhythms and tempi. But gender has nothing to do with it. As Stanley Kay, the founder of Diva puts it, "if you can play, you can play." And these five can certainly play. - Producer's note.

"There was plenty of hot music served up in the course of Flip's 80th Birthday Party... For those of us lucky enough to have been there, this is a wonderful keepsake, and for those who were not, this might make you feel as though you had. And for all of us, it will remind us that Flip Phillips was a man who loved to play, and made us share that love. Joe - now you're really swinging a melody from the sky!" - Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University

A two hour VHS tape capturing all of the musical excitement of
one of the greatest gatherings of Jazz All-Stars ever to appear on
video at a single event, as well as a historical interview with Flip
Phillips

Tom Howard, piano and keyboards; Flip Phillips, tenor; Don MacLean, drums; Joe Reichgott, bass. Flip Phillips, who travelled and worked with the greatest musicians and bands in the world from his days with the first Woody Herman Herd, Jazz at the Philharmonic and Benny Goodman tours, had a wonderful three-year run at a club in Florida named the Beowulf. Although the Beowulf no longer exists, the memories of great music linger on in this double CD, recorded in December, 1977 and October, 1978, with Flip at the top of his form playing with his working quartets. All net proceeds from this recording will be donated to the Flip Phillips Scholarship Fund at the University of Miami Florida.

"We cherish the warm memories of frequent concerts, club dates and festivals when Geneýs drums and vibes filled the rooms with the sound of his playing and the magic of his arrangements and compositions. That same warmth permeates these final recordings. He was surrounded by fine musicians who acknowledged his skills and felt strong emotional bonds with their ailing colleague. This was, truly, a labor of love."
- Floyd Levin (Award winning jazz writer, producer, lyricist and contributor of oral history history interviews to the Jazz Archive at Tulane University)

"The musicians must have really enjoyed playing these brilliant charts and they stand as a shining lesson for anyone interested in the arranger's craft. Masso's work fits snugly into the category bounded by the John Kirby band at one end and by the Marty Paich Dektette at the other. In his settings for the horns he shows the foresight of an Al Cohn or a Gerry Mulligan in his awareness of how best to catapult a man into his solo." --Steve Voce, Jazz broadcaster for the BBC and columnist for Jazz Journal International for more than fourty-five years.

"As a kid of six or seven years old, I used to sing popular songs with my mother playing the piano... I soon gave up vocalizing for the more instrumental approach to the music, which became my life. I never gave up the thought that I could actually sing a song that people might like. George Frazier's album notes will tell you the story of how I happened to make a vocal album for Atlantic Records... Ruby Braff, Sammy Margolis and Bobby Hackett play brilliantly and the trumpet work of Warren Vache Jr. shines throughout." - George Wein, producer of the Newport Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival and numerous festivals all over the world as CEO of Festival Productions, Inc., as well as an accomplished pianist, record producer and entrepreneur.

The excellent singer Hanna Richardson has done again with her husband Phil Flanigan. This time they are backed by a solid swinging group. As Ruby Braff said "That's the way to sing - simply and with spirit".

"Donna and Herb have drawn on the legacy of their enshrined forebears' musicality and togetherness. They have absorbed the social and musical changes since those days. And they "and their four long-time colleagues on this disc" have found a new and refreshed but still classic and still wonderfully listenable jazz . . . There's a oneness as well as twoness in marriages and in music, when a voice and a horn are always there for each other, in today's clich', and also give each other space. Think of Lee Wiley and Bobby Hackett. Think of Billie Holiday and Lester Young. Then think again. It's half a century later. When Billie sings No More she's a woman turning from a no-good man with aching resignation. In Donna's No More you know this woman is going to slam the door and have a life." - Roderick Nordell

"A standout performance which for the first time captures the vitality and surprise of the ABQ's live dates; diverse material performed in a fresh manner with a breathtaking blend of swing, melody and harmony. Guest vocalist Terrie Richards Alden is a definite plus" - Zan Stewart

"The Ellington Centennial ... focused new attention on the maestro and inspired a welcome flurry of releases -- both reissues and newly recorded tributes. In the wake of this activity, one would be hard-pressed to conceive a fresh approach for another Ellington project. Yet this truly international ensemble of accomplished players has managed to do just that through its varied repertoire (covering four decades of Ellingtonia), imaginative arrangements and inventive solos." -- Ed Berger, Associate Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.

"This recording gives long overdue recognition to Irvin Stokes, the superb jazz trumpeter, who is at his best now. In his seventies, he only gets better with age. His solos make sense, convey passion and are well placed over good harmonic knowledge. His playing has been hailed by his colleague, the late Doc Cheatham, and if Doc was the Eubie Blake of the late 20th century, then perhaps Irvin Stokes is to be the Doc Cheatham of the 21st." - From the album notes by Phil Schaap, multi-Grammy winning jazz historian and the host of a popular radio show on WKCR in New York City.

"This is Jack Teagarden and his 1954 band - warts, goosebumps and all. It's live stuff, remember, not controlled studio music. But in these four vintage programs there are enough splendid moments of major league jazz to suggest that issuing them at last is more than merely a pleasing proposition. And let's not forget that exciting new guy in the group, trumpeter Jackie Coon." - Richard Hadlock (Author, Jazz Masters of the Twenties)

Arbors Records is donating 100% of the proceeds from sales of this recording to the JAZZ FOUNDATION OF AMERICA for the benefit of New Orleans musician's relief. Please spread the word about this recording.

"Jackie Coon, at his best, playing relaxed but swinging music with some old friends. Whether it be called New Orleans jazz, dixieland, small group swing or straightahead, Jackie Coon's variety of melodic jazz is very easy to enjoy and extremely difficult to resist. Although he emphasizes the middle register of his horn and has a soft and mellow tone, Jackie's subtle solos are full of inner fire, effortless swing and surprising twists." - Scott Yanow, regular contributor to numerous jazz publications for more than 15 years.

Jackie Coon's relaxed, lyrical jazz is again front and center in a swinging program of jazz classics.
"Jackie Coon is a master of the fluegelhorn. The seemingly effortless, fast-flowing and beautifully lyrical inventions Jackie evokes from his fluegelhorn border on the miraculous. In Jackie's hands, the music - the melody or the variations on it - is astonishingly lovely. He and his pals have created a quite special jazz sound, gentle, light on its feet, creative, exciting and wonderfully satisfying." - From the album notes of Charles Champlin, retired arts editor and columnist of the Los Angeles Times, and a noted jazz critic and writer.

This superbly gifted Danish guitarist is influenced by Django Reinhrard, Jimmy Ramey, Grant Green and Wes Montgomery. He is, however, his "Own man" and it shows in his wonderful playing. Backed by a great group, this is one fine, swinging CD.

Jane Jarvis swings with all-stars from the Atlantic and the Pacific. "The New York session emphasizes Jane's and Benny's composing, while the West Coast date has a Hoagy Carmichael/Cole Porter theme. Each side has a stray composer or two thrown in for good measure. The unifying element is the lovely Ms. Jarvis (who loves colors), and her adaptable swinging fingers." - Sunsh Stein, freelance writer and contributor to jazz publications.

"This recording brings to the fore the piano talents of a remarkably accomplished artist, joined by three master musicians who can invent, seemingly, at will, and think as one while retaining their own musical personalities and identities. The result brings to mind John Hammond's famous definition of jazz: Collective improvisation, rhythmically integrated. - Producer's note

Janet Carroll the singer/actress can boast of a resume of movie and TV credits a mile long, including major role on Broadway in the hit "Little Women". Here is is backed by a group a very talented musicians.

Two veteran guitarists, Jay Geils and Gerry Beaudoin, also known as "The Kings Of Strings", welcome the phenomenal youngster Aaron Weinstein. Beaudoin is the Grammy nominated guitarist and Jay Geils is the founder of the R&R band J. Geils Band. A swingin collecton of tunes.

Jerry Jerome is fondly remembered as the jazz tenor man in the first Glenn Miller orchestra and in the top-of-the-line big bands of Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw in the late '30s and early '40s, but that is only part of the story. To the great pleasure and wonderment of all, Jerry was still going strong and, in many ways, playing better than ever as the Something Blue portion of this 2-CD set, made shortly before his 89th birthday, so eloquently attests. In the Something Borrowed CD, Jerry is showcased on a treasure trove of rare recordings spanning the period from 1939 to 1964 in the company of some of the outstanding musicians of the period. Adding to the enjoyment are Jerry's spoken introductions to each group of historic selections making this a unique autobiographical document.
-Producer's Note

Jerry Jerome is fondly remembered as the jazz tenor man in the first Glenn Miller orchestra and the top-of-the-line big bands of Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, until he left the big bands in 1941 to pursue studio work and a sucessful jingles business. The "Something Old" part of this set brings together a batch of rarities made by Jerry between 1939 and the early '60s, providing a generous sampling of Jerry's marvelous LesterYoung-inspired tenor saxophone, contributions from such stellar friends and associates as Charlie Christian, Teddy Wilson, Charlie Shavers, Yank Lawson, Bobby Hackett, Red Allen and Tyree Glenn, and Jerry's spoken introductions, making this a unique autobiographical document. The "Something New" CD was recorded in 1996 with a first-rate supporting cast of Randy Sandke, George Masso, Dick Hyman, Bucky Pizzarelli, Bob Haggart and Joe Ascione and reveals that Jerry is playing better than ever. Together, the two CDs form a musical portrait of a splendid musician who has never lost his enthusiasm for jazz and has never stopped swinging. - Producer's note.

What can you say about Joe Ascione that hasn't been said before. Joe is one of the prenier drummers on the scene today. He is axceptionally fast, has impeccable taste and always swings. To make it even better, he has picked some fine sidemen for the CD.

"For a number of years now, Joel "Hell" Helleny, the astonishing trombone player at the head of this sparkling, swinging, hand-picked little group, has been earning unambiguous admiration from his circle of fellow musicians in New York and jolting hard-boiled jazz club audiences into actual attention as soon as he gets a few bars into his solo. A natural jazz player like Zoot Sims or Roy Eldridge, Helleny brings a vast, roomy imagination, an instinctive concentration, an absolute freshness of conception and a great melodic gift to whatever he is playing." - Peter Straub, Author of Ghost Story, Koko, The Hellfire Club, and other novels.

"Still in their 30s, John Allred and Wycliffe Gordon may just be the next great trombone team. They combine youth and experience to bring both a fresh eye to the music and a healthy respect for the mainstream jazz tradition. The melodies may be familiar, but the performances are continually challenging, exciting and deeply felt. Once you've listened to this CD once, the best thing to do is go back and listen to it again, all the way from the start. This time, notice that extra something that only the finest musicians can give their music. "It's about playing from the heart, playing with real feeling," says Allred. "You can't teach someone to play with soul." from the album notes by Matt Schudel, jazz writer for the (Fort-Lauderdale) South Florida Sun Sentinel

John Allred, the famous trombone-playing son of a famous trombone-playing father, Bill Allred, performs a swinging blend of jazz standards, some seldom-heard tunes and his own originals, in his first album as leader.
"This is an excellent CD. Not only every trombonist, but every musician should listen to John Allred and his fine quartet. Once you hear John, you will never forget him. He is on his way to greatness." - Louie Bellson, described by Duke Ellington as "the world's greatest drummer."

"It seems to me that John Bunch is, among his many other qualities, a melodist of the first order. Surely he reaches a delightful detente between melody and imagination with the 18 mostly familiar tunes on this CD and he does it in the most demanding way possible, solo and without discarding the melodies. Running the chords will not do here." -- John McDonough (John McDonough's jazz writing can be regularly found in Down Beat and often in the Wall Street Journal.)

"John Bunch is a man who was once dubbed 'The Fred Astaire of the piano' and it goes without saying that these performances swing. Few pianists possess a surer grasp of rhythm, and every piece here is marked with a knowing sense of restraint. The result is a devastating performance, full of wit power and grace. And there are constant surprises in the programming." - Clive Davis, who writes on the arts for The London Times

"Before he discovered Bud Powell, as many pianists did in the mid-'40s, John grew up admiring Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller. His marvelous touch and overall grace at the keyboard still reflect the Wilson heritage while the felicitous lines and sophisticated harmonies of bebop continue the Powell influence. He was old enough to appreciate the old masters, young enough to make the transition to the new music of the time, and endowed with the artistic intelligence to forge a cogent expression of his own ... There are ways to swing at virtually any tempo, and Bunch knows them all." -- Ira Gitler (Internationally renowned author, jazz journalist and encyclopedist, author of Jazz Masters of the '40s, and Swing to Bop.)

"When we are playing together as a trio, Bucky and John and I will occasionally play an entire set of Ellington / Strayborn songs. The set goes on and on, gently winding through the famous and not as famous compositions of these two brilliant composers. Very often a quiet comes over the audience as the songs roll along, and soon you'd think you were at a service in church. And we actually are, honoring the Archangel of American music, Duke Ellington." -- Jay Leonhart

"His solo style is his own, often sophisticated, sometimes rambunctious, thoroughly grounded in swinging mainstream jazz. He has excellent keyboard command, incorporating a powerfully rhythmic left hand and swinging, fluid ideas coming from his right." - Ted des Plantes, whose articles appear frequently in The Mississippi Rag, from his album notes describing John Sheridan, the brilliant pianist and arranger with Jim Cullum's Jazz Band, heard on the National Public Radio show "Riverwalk."

"This is small-combo swing at its best: tight but informal, alluding to earlier times, styles, stylists and recordings, yet fresh as the next century." - Philip Elwood, a long-time respected writer on jazz, is the Lively Arts Critic and a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner.

"The Dream Band's third release, Get Rhythm In Your Feet, is on the same high level as the first two, and in some ways is the best of the trio...John Sheridan's Dream Band looks back towards The Swing Era and the classic groups of that era without directly copying any of them. Mixing together written and jammed ensembles with concise solos and Becky Kilgore's joyful vocals, the Sheridan Dream Band is carving out its own legacy within the current classic jazz scene." - Scott Yanow, the Editor of the 3rd edition of The All Music Guide to Jazz and author of six jazz books including Trumpet Kings, Swing and Classic Jazz

The scope of this CD's selections is astonishing and Sheridan displays his great sensitivity on this excellent collection of vintage tunes, with superb arrangements, bass and drum work, and elegant engineering. Sheridan has a light keyboard touch which he punctuates with firm emphasis; and being able to slide smoothly from pianissimo to fortissimo gives him a chance to shade his harmonies, emphasize or de-emphasize rhythms, and swing effortlessly. From the album notes by the noted jazz writer Philip Elwood

"To me Johnny Frigo is a bit of a miracle. Here he is, an octogenarian - he´ll be 85 in December - he still plays technically perfectly and with undiminished energy, enthusiasm and inventiveness - at an age when most fiddlers, and musicians in general, have long ago hung up their instruments in the nearest closet. Indeed, when Johnny plays with other (almost always much younger) musicians, it is he who galvanizes the group, who never lets their energy flag, who always picks up the next tune, who leads the background riffing, and who never wants to stop playing." - Gunther Schuller,both classical and jazz musician, musicologist, educator, music publisher, composer and conductor and the author of Early Jazz: Its Roots and Early Development (Oxford) and The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (Oxford). He has the unusual distinction of performing on the french horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as well as the Miles Davis "Birth of the Cool" nonet.

Johnny conducts The DIVA Jazz Orchestra in a series of his own compositions (10 Tracks)and the remainder by others. All odd nubered tracks are Johnny speaking. A Marvelous CD with a true leghend in the music business.

"The music has a propulsive, swinging, lilting charm that is the hallmark of great chamber jazz. Johnny's charts have an intricacy that can be thrilling, ever witty now and again, and that confirms a devout conviction that most of us share that, among its many enchantments, jazz can be beautiful." - Charles Champlin, the longtime and now retired arts editor and columnist of the Los Angeles Times.

One of the piano masters demonstrates what piano jazz is all about in a program of swinging improvisations.
"The pianist is the star of this well-balanced team whose warm rapport makes this trio exceptional. Varro swings urgently, is never at a loss for ideas, and exhibits an extraordinary gift for making everything sound as easy as falling off a log, something that communicates very agreeably to the listener." - Stanley Dance, jazz producer, critic and author of seven books, including "The World of Duke Ellington" and "The World of Swing."

"Varro resuscitates the jam combo tradition of the '30s and '40s and here fronts what could have been, in 1945, a major attraction on the 52nd Street jam scene. All of the ingredients are present. One of a small handful of contemporary trumpeters who posesses a close affinity to the giants of the pre-bop era, Jon-Erik Kellso was the perfect choice for this session. With a style chiseled from the Louis Armstrong of the 1920's and '30s, Kellso sought even further to find other related sources of inspiration. On the performances heard here, with his readily identifiable, burry tone and characteristic mastery of lyrical, thematically based improvisations, Kellso effortlessly, and perhaps even unconsciously, incorporates fleeting allusions to many of his predecessors." - Jack Sohmer, record and book reviewer for such publications as The Mississippi Rag, Down Beat, JazzTimes and Cadence

"The Johnny Varro Swing Seven has set standards of imaginative repertoire and musical prowess which are high, indeed. The listener new to this band will treasure the eclectic tune list (including composers from Frederic Chopin to Johnny Hodges) as well as the freshness and verve of the players. Those who are already fans of this septet will be thrilled anew as the musical surprises unfold, and will join this writer in replaying this album and savoring each moment." - Duncan Schiedt, a veteran jazz photographer, archivist and author since 1939.

"This musical program recalls the Swing Era at its finest. For many jazz lovers, the small bands of that period represented the finest flowering of the genre, and it is to these vital little groups that Varro and his colleagues pay homage." - Duncan Schiedt, veteran writer and photgrapher of jazz since 1939.

"On the evidence of the music on Pure Imagination and his notable series of Arbors records, Johnny Varro is still very music in his musical prime, ranking at the top of swing pianists and consistently succeeding at keeping the vintage music he loves alive and infectious." - Scott Yanow

"Good music never goes out of fashion as this concert of nearly thirty years ago proves. The irreplaceable Eddie Condon was a man, who with the right guys, could make it happen for both the musicians and the audience as he did that night in Syracuse. We'll not see his like again. Thank you Eddie for your integrity and taste, all the music and all opportunities you tenaciously pursued to bring jazz to a wider audience." --Brian Peerless, British jazz writer, producer and promoter; contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz and long-time friend of Kenny Davern.

"This is music for living with, easy listening jazz (with none of the pejorative connotations of that phrase) from the Irish/Jewish soul of a story-telling reedman. If it doesn't put smiles on your face each time you play it, tatela, I'll be very surprised begorrah." - Ira Gitler (Ira Gitler teaches Jazz History at the Manhattan School of Music. His weekly column appears on the Internet at Jazz Central Station. He also contributes to JazzTimes and Down Beat. The Encyclopedia of Jazz, by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler will be published in the Fall of 1999 by Oxford University Press.)

"The Davern clarinet - one of the signature sounds in the jazz of our time ' has never sounded better than in this fresh and stimulating setting of two guitars, bass and drums . . . a happy session of collective music-making at its best." - Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.

The pairing of Davern and Wilber was absolute sheer genius! These are recordings that have never been released before. Thanks to Dan Morgenstern, the NJ Jazz Society and Doug Pomeroy we are now able to hear these recordings from live performances. These are an absolute treat!

"Acclaimed clarinetist Kenny Davern, effortlessly spinning out brilliantly articulate lines that often nudge the outer limits of his horn's tonal range, has brought a very select group of fine jazzmen to the studio to carry out his musical designs." - Floyd Levin (Award winning jazz writer, producer, lyricist and contributor of oral history interviews to the Jazz Archive at Tulane University).

"The warmth and guile that the two Kens show underline the fact that they both possess that elusive quality that jazz musicians call "time" - the ability to impart a swinging impetus to every phrase they play. Great though the solos are on these recordings, it is the interplay between the two K's that elevates the session to heights way above the norm. The surging chases they create are filled with a spirit and invention that is guaranteed to restore the faith of anyone who feels that swinging jazz is losing ground. The music that this group plays has a blend of feeling, rhythm and spontaneity that will never date."- John Chilton, British trumpeter who divides his time between leading his own touring band, The Feetwarmers, and writing about jazz. His books include The Who's Who of Jazz, and biographies of Louis Armstrong, Henry Allen, Sidney Bechet, Bob Crosby, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday and Louis Jordan.

"There are musicians who can play some jazz, then there are the real jazz musicians. Clarinettist Kenny Davern is most decidedly one of the latter. A more dedicated performer and enthusiast would be difficult to find. His conviction and passion are amply demonstrated on this recording, which not only illustrates the art of small group, no frills jazz playing, but gives the listener sixty minutes of undiluted musical pleasure with Davern and his friends in peak form." - Brian Peerless, British jazz writer, producer and promoter, contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, and friend of Kenny Davern for more than 20 years.

This recording, taped for posterity in Sweden by Leif Karlsson, makes it possible nearly thirty years later for the world to enjoy some of the scintillating performances by the Kings of Jazz, a group hand-picked by Pee Wee Irwin not only for their outstanding ability as soloists but also for their team playing to form an excellent ensemble. It also gives us the chance to hear Kenny Davern at the peak of his powers on soprano saxophone, an instrument that lamentedly he no longer plays, in performances that he considers some of his best ever on record. Producer's Note

"Larry Eanet is, as Barbara Lea has called him and your ears will confirm, "a world class pianist." He is also one of the best kept secrets in jazz, though this wonderful CD should go a long way to changing all that. Lucidity, elegance, a highly developed sense of form and, above all, a swinging lyricism and contagious joyfulness are the hallmarks of his playing. Featured on reeds is the brilliant multi-instrumentalist, Ron Hockett, who is equally compelling on clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones. He has an approach to his instruments that I find utterly irresistible and leaves me saying "Ron, I want to hear some more, man!" - From the album notes of Ross Firestone, author of the award winning Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman.

The Magnificent VII shares several qualities with the beloved World's Greatest Jazz Band of the 1970's. The WGJB was quite an all-star band; their music looked backwards toward both the Bob Crosby Bobcats and Eddie Condon's many bands yet was fresh and vital with a point of view of its own that was not directly copying the past; quite a few memorable recordings resulted which found the distinctive soloists inspiring each other. All of those fact equally apply to the Mag VII. -- Paraphrased from the album notes by Scott Yanow, who has been writing about jazz since 1975 and is the main editor of the All Music Guide to Jazz.

Sweeten your holiday season with this tasty collection of jazz treats. This is Christmas as you have never tasted it before. Rick Fay and his friends have made another fine album, this time recorded at a Sunday afternoon concert in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the Hilton Hotel, on December 6, 1992.
"The Magnificent VII features Rick's favorite front line, Jon-Erik Kellso, Chuck Hedges and Dan Barrett, and a superb rhythm section: Bob Haggart, Johnny Varro and Gene Estes. The audience was clearly delighted with the music, and the musicians were obviously enjoying themselves and each other."

Maria is a Portuguese vocalist steeped in the Potuguese/Brazilian musical idioms. Here she is proving she is also familar with the Great American Songbook. Backed by the superb women from Five Play, this CD is sure to please.

Marty Grosz displays his wit and wisdom, not to mention his musicality, in company with a collection of hot all-stars. Featured for the first time on record are his celebrated stories of the Gigolo and why Englishmen can't sing the blues.

"Maurice is a new voice in jazz. In I've Never Been In Love Before, he takes you on a journey through the peaks and valleys of a love affair. On this particular trip, Maurice is joined by two combinations, both comprised of the most exciting and accomplished musicians that any singer could be fortunate enough to have on his team. Such gifted accompanists as Frank Owens, Bob Cranshaw, Joe Wilder, Frank Wess, Joe Shepley and Sherrie Maricle know exactly how to inspire, cajole and guide Maurice through the ups and downs of love - the experiences that all of us have and will go through in life" -Will Friedwald, the author of Jazz Singing and Sinatra! The Song Is You, and co-author with Tony Bennett of The Good Life.

The transparent yet rich sonic ambiance created by this threesome of Michael Moore, Ken Peplowski and Tom Melito is awesome: fresh, uncluttered, and with remarkable textural variety. The taste, skill and ideas of Moore and Peplowski mesh perfectly, and since they take turns playing the roles of lead voice and accompanist, listening to them provides the kind of kicks you can get from operatic duets, or chamber music interplay. From the album notes by Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.

A beyond category recording ranging over even more expansive terrain than Volume 1. Featured are no less than six originals by Michael Moore, each inspired by a particular musician dear to his heart, reflected in the disc's subtitle, Dedications. Peplowski calles them "Michael's abstract paintings of the musicians" and describes this CD as "one of the most creative projects I've ever been involved with." Michael Moore said "Ken and I both like to play the history of the music. It depends on who you're playing with. Songs you've played before can feel new, challenging and wide open." - from the album notes by Ira Gitler, author of Masters of Bebop (formerly Jazz Masters of the Forties), and co-author with Leonard Feather of The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz.

"It is a pleasure to write liner notes for a band I know as well as this one. When I retired from Disney this is the group I was playing with at the Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando's Disney World. They sound better than ever. Despite their important sounding title this is one o the best and most innovative Dixie bands you'd ever want to hear." - Rick Fay, musician, composer, poet and writer, who was the inspiration for starting Arbors Records and a major music influence until his untimely passing in 1999.

"This is a tribute album to Pee Wee Russell and to the music that he wrote, which undeservedly has fallen into obscurity, as well as to the late Bob Hilbert, whose book Pee Wee Russell: The Life of a Jazzman, was the inspiration for this recording. Featured is Bobby Gordon, whose special insight into Russell's playing has captured its subtle nuances of sound and phrasing, far beyond mere imitation, and made him uniquely qualified to do justice to this most original of players

For the gourmet, memories may be of a restaurant serving a perfect meal; for the aesthete, of a place where a colorful sunset was observed; but for the musician, memories are of those moments when great music was made or heard. Peter Ecklund has here set down some of his remembrances culled from a long career of playing "gigs." - Producer's Note

"A classic duet by father and son, Bucky and John, two masters of the guitar. They are so simpatico, father and son, that it's sometimes hard to tell when one leaves off and the other begins. Bucky performs with sensitivity and style and John proves that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." - From the album notes by Tony Mottola, himself a legendary guitarist.

"The master tapes to this session have been locked away for the past 42 years in the family archives of Barbara Sutton Curtis, Ralph Sutton's sister. Only a few people have ever heard them and they have never previously been made public. Having listened to Ralph since he first came to New York in 1946, it is my opinion that no recording studio ever produced a session with Ralph as good as this! There were no requirements about what he should play and he played everything he felt like playing. Even better, most of his selections are tunes he had either never recorded or were only recorded once: Barbara, who had been listening to Ralph play since the very beginning, feels that these are among the happiest, most swinging things she has ever heard him play. And after hearing this CD I think you'll agree. What a talent Ralph was! He played wondrous piano and he is sadly missed." Hal Curtis, Ralph's brother-in-law.

"One night while talking with my good friend Johnny Varro I asked him how he would like to play with Ralph. Johnny didn't hesitate with his reply: "Sure! We have played together before". Then it was a quick call to Ralph and his reply was typical: "Yeah man!" And so it came about that one of my life's dreams came true." --Producer, Gunnar A. Jacobsen

Ruby Braff and Ralph Sutton played together many times for more than 52 years, but until now there has been no commerically available visual record of their performances. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that we present some rare videos taken by Don Wolff of their appearance at the Mid-America Jazz Festival in St. Louis, Missouri in 1988, and of their last performance together, which took place at the 2001 March of Jazz Party presented by Arbors Records. What follows are two magical occasions for your viewing and listening pleasure. As Dan Morgenstern puts it in his performance notes, "the whole DVD is a highlight - and how could it not be with Ruby and Ralph up front!"

Another one of their collaboration of many years. Necky is the consumate singer, on pitch and enunciates clearly. Dave, the most sympathetic accompanist, can bring Rebecca to new heights! Always a joy to hear those two together.

"Rebecca Kilgore is the real thing. She swings all right, without noticeable effort, which is what swing is about - think not just of Ella Fitzgerald and Maxine Sullivan but of instrumentalists such as Johnny Hodges, Bobby Hackett and Zoot Sims. Her pitch is so sure that you never find yourself thinking about it; it never becomes an issue, the way it does with singers whose intonation is less certain. This is surely a natural gift, along with her good time and good ear. Appearing with Dave Frishberg, best known now as a singer-songwriter, but present here in his secret identity of accompanist and solo pianist, they were recorded live on the final night of their longstanding gig at the Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon." - From the album notes by Francis Davis, a Contributing Editor of The Atlantic Monthly and noted writer about jazz.

"The tight and yet relaxed, swinging mix by Becky and Dave recreates the jazz heyday of the '40s and '50s , when singers, piano players and sidemen could be found in every American supper club, bringing the classic American songs to life."
- Terry Ross, freelance writer on jazz, books, classical music and the visual arts, who lives in Portland, Oregon, often makes the scene at The Heathman listening to Becky and Dave.

Here are 16 swinging tracks of songs associated with Billie Holiday and Lester Young. Just a wonderful CD without copying the celebrants. When it comes to vocalists, Rebecca Kilgore is head and shoulders above the rest. Being backed by the Harry Allen Quartet is just icing on the cake! A great CD!

"This recording brings to center stage a jazz singer of considerable talent, in a set of performances displaying her mature musical taste, with excellent supportive jazz arrangements by Dan Barrett and outstanding improvised solos by the Celestial Six." -- Richard Hadlock, jazz radio host and author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties.

High-powered dixieland as it should be played. Rick always gave his all everytime he played and could instill that in his sidemen as well. CD swings throughout! This CD was oignally issued on cassette.

Rick Fay once again combines his poetry with music in this sequel to Sax-o-Poem (19113), this time drawing portaits in words and music of some of his favorite jazz musicians.
"In 'Words Among the Reeds' Rick Fay gives us poetic and musical portraits of himself and eleven of the jazz world's brightest stars. Like 'Sax-o-Poem', its predecessor, this album rings true in both words and notes. Rick's poems set up the musical performances that follow. Either could stand alone as the work of a gifted artist; together, the effect is synergistic. Who Am I? Rick asks in the opener. Rejoice in the creativity of his responses throughout this wonderful album. - Owen Cordle, whose work appears regularly in JazzTimes, Down Beat and in the Raleigh (NC) News and Observer.

Ricks's gang at their Condonesque best performing some of the tunes that the boys at Condon's used to play and a few new ones written by Rick.
"This recording is rather like an extension of the best Commodore years. Yet it is, more significantly, a celebration of these outstanding players right now. Like Gabler's great musicians, our "Endangered Species respect the past but are far too talented to fall into mere imitation. They are - lucky for us - creating their own "good old days". -- Richard Hadlock, jazz writer, radio host, soprano saxophonist, clarinetist and author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties.

Rick Fay sums up his life in jazz in his own verse and in superb musical performances.
"I know of no other album that combines the work of a poet who is also a jazz man and vice versa. As a musician-poet-performer, Rick is singular." -- Owen Cordle, jazz critic and writer for The (Raleigh, NC) News and Observer, JazzTimes and Down Beat.

A followup to the classic "Memories of You" session but without Johnny Mince. "Sometimes, if one closes one's eyes, the opening strains of a selection, even though recorded recently, can take the memory back decades. In the case at hand-the album OH BABY-and in terms of this writer's youthful forays onto the club scene, the emotional system replays the excitement this jazz-struck teenager felt, say, upon entering Washington, D. C.'s Club Bali in the mid-1940s to see, for the very first time, Louis Armstrong's All Stars-well named, since on that bandstand with Pops were no less than Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Big Sid Catlett, and Arvell Shaw...I hope I make myself clear, for a similar sort of feverish condition came over me as I grooved on my first hearing of "OH BABY", and several replays have not dimmed my enthusiasm. The album is truly vintage Chicago style." -- W. Royal Stokes, broadcaster and author of The Jazz Scene: An Informal history from New Orleans to 1990

"These are the sounds that emanated from such digs as Nick's and Eddie Condon's in New York's Greenwich Village -- where inspired jazzmen established the guidelines by which we still judge this free-wheeling, effusive and joyous jazz." -- Floyd Levin, award winning jazz author, producer and lyricist.

Rick Fay's creative urges once again find fufillment as he enjoys the luxury of simply caressing a batch of his favorite songs, in a thoroughly planned and well executed set of glowing performances, performances unlike any heard on his previous releases. Taken from the album notes of Richard Hadlock, author of Jazz Masters of the Twenties and jazz host on KCSM, San Mateo, CA since 1959.

Rick Fay's first recording which set the standard for presenting hard-charging Dixieland, but with a contemporary twist. Re-live the sound of his memorable Hot Five and share with them the pleasures of Dixieland music at its best.

"Among the many things in this world that are not to be sneezed at is a twenty-five-year-gig for a fine jazz musician. And from the time he joined the Tonight Show Band in October 1967, until Johnny Carson finally strolled off into history in 1992, Ross Tompkins had played jazz piano five nights a week for, indeed, twenty-five years...Now it is possible to enjoy at full length the artistry of Ross Tompkins uninterrupted, with his imaginative embellishments lending additional grace to some of the brightest melodies written in modern times. Tompkins' thoughtful, sensitive, inventive and fluid style makes for a wonderful listening experience." - Charles Champlin, the retired longtime arts editor, Los Angeles Times and a frequent writer on jazz subjects.

This is the second volume of Controlled Nonchalance. It is every bit as good as Volume 1, which was voted the best jazz record in 1995 by Jazz Journal International. If you didn't get Volume 1, you hath better get both of these.

You could never pidgeonhole Ruby. His playing was always full of surprises going from the high to the low register. Just when you think you know where he is going, he changes course. Backed by a wonderful group of musicians on this great CD.

This is Ruby's final performance, a wonderful concert at the Nairn Jazz Festival on August 7, 2002. These are two historical CDs. Ruby and the guys are in fine form. If you are a Ruby fan you will have to have this double CD.

This is the final recording for the Great Ruby Braff. Ruby passed away on February 9, 2003 and his horn was stilled forever. We are fortunate to have his recordings to remind us how great player he really was.

"Ruby Braff has never run out of great songs to play and ingenious ways to play them. One of the most prolific recording artists of recent times, it should be noted that his output is even more quality than it is quantity. Braff and the Braffsmen offer tangible proof that jazz as we know it, i.e. the concept of theme and improvised variations, is still no less pungent with possibility than the great songs themselves. It's not just what each soloist plays but when: each individual statement carefully follows another, playing something in response to the previous solo, offering some wry commentary on the original tune. The entire session and indeed, the ongoing career of Ruby Braff are arguments for the continued validity of the basic tenets of jazz; the balance of solos and ensembles, of improvisation and playing the written melody, of group dynamics and interplay. And while all five supporting players are truly par excellence, it´s the leader who himself propels their collective efforts to greatness, and, in the process, shows us all who´s king of the forest." - from the album notes by Will Friedwald, the author of Jazz Singing and Sinatra! The Song Is You, and co-author with Tony Bennett of The Good Life, as well as a contributor to The New York Times and to many jazz publications.

Of all the assets that a great musician needs, individuality is perhaps the most important. Ruby Braff has that quality in abundance - his playing can never be mistaken for anyone else's in the world. Today, Ruby's tone is even more sublime and full of feeling, it has been fortified and honed by the experience and wisdom that Ruby has gained from a lifetime in music. Now he seems able to pluck inspiration out of the air, creating ideas that are never less than ingenious and often monumental - he swings at any tempo. All of his skills are evident on this superb new album, and so too is the consummate artistry of the musicians who are featured alongside Ruby.

"The present set is a collection of 10 standards of the sort Braff has played for years, but with a difference: Braff considers this the best work he's yet done for Arbors, which he in turn considers the best body of work of his career on any label... He's an oddity among jazz musicians, one whom any composer would want to hear play his songs. He seems to respect the material as much as the manner: And that makes him that rarest of all artists, a jazz musician in whose style melody and imporvisation coexist as equal partners." --John McDonough, esteemed jazz critic who writes for Down Beat and The Wall Street Journal.

"No one these days would, I think, dream of comparing Ruby with anybody else. He is of that handful of horn players past and present whose style is so personal, distinctive and instantly recognizable, that it can only evoke Ruby Braff himself. His mastery of the cornet?s cello-like low register, his swift and effortless runs and rising and falling arpeggios (his uniquely thoughtful virtuosity), his gently staccato accents and his quiet lyricism all conspire to make Braff inimitable. At that, and inevitably, the guiding light of the album is Ruby Braff himself, who conceived the unique instrumentation and created the charts, and whose mellow horn has never sounded happier and more youthful. There is a kind of audible serenity, the sense that you are hearing a superb all-tempo player surrounded by chosen and gifted friends and doing what he likes best in the world, making beautiful jazz music for all to enjoy." - Charles Champlin is the retired art editor of the Los Angeles Times who writes often about jazz.

Presenting Ruby in a variety of settings ranging from big band to quintet. "Ruby Braff has done it again. With each successive CD for Arbors - and this is the thirteenth - the amazing cornetist has outdone himself, but just when a listener thinks it can't get any better, he climbs a bit close to perfection. And this aptly titled offering is a masterpiece." - Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.

"There is a completely different aspect to Ruby Braff's art. From the sunlit uplands of the middle and upper register, he will dip down into a deep hollow of sound, sometimes just for a note, sometimes for a long, long passage. This is an area no one else has explored on cornet or trumpet. Indeed it is a sound unique in music, unique to Ruby Braff - warm, gentle, intimate, reflective, sometimes melancholy, sometimes delightfully sensuous. . . . The music is absolutely fresh, completely unique and couldn't possibly have been played by anyone else in the world but Ruby Braff. You only need to hear a bar or two to know that. That's the way jazz should be." - from the album notes by Martin Gayford, jazz critic of the Daily Telegraph, London, who writes regularly for many publications on both jazz and the visual arts.

"A recording by Ruby Braff is one of life's more reliable pleasures. He is a musician who simply doesn't make bad albums. The charm of that mellow and fruity cornet tone, the beauty of his melodic lines, soaring, fluttering and swooping like a bird in flight - these never cease to delight the ear." - Martin Gayford, the jazz critic of the Daily Telegraph, London, writes regularly for many publications on both jazz and the visual arts.

Through the courtesy of George Wein we are able to bring you this remastered edition of America, The Beautiful, which contains all 10 tracks from the original Concord release plus 7 tracks never before released or available to the public.

"Ruby and Dick, in effect, celebrated their 20th anniversary with this auspicious CD. Theirs has been a most productive and creative association, fortunately well documented on records. I cherish them all, but this one's special - not least because it is so relaxed and tuneful." - Dan Morgenstern, renowned jazz authority and Director of the Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies

In this second volume, the familiar and the unfamiliar are again side by side, as Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins again don their agent's headphones, turn on their ancient radio and once more announce, "Calling Berlin," Irving Berlin, that is. Braff's virtuosic flights are never exhibitionistic, so few jazz musicians "sing" like him any more. And Larkins' understated commentary matches him imaginatively. -- Paraphrased from the album notes by Stanley Dance, author of The World of Swing

"The two resolute undercover agents shown in the photograph that illustrates this collection were not, as you may have assumed, engaged in ensuring the downfall of the Third Reich. They were, in fact, paying tribute to Berlin, the great American songwriter, Irving Berlin, whose songs they intended recording that day...Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins first recorded together in 1955. They got together again in 1972. Now here they are once more, twenty two years later, still going strong like Scotland's famous Johnny Walker." - Stanley Dance, author of The World of Swing

"The first thing that hits you about Ruby Braff is that sound: full, round, warm, vibrant, voluptuous and unmistakably his. He had it from the start, but it's grown wider and deeper with time and is, quite simply, one of the marvels of jazz today ... There's only one Ruby Braff, and if you are like me, you can't ever get enough of him. So add this little gem to your Braff shelf." -- Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University

"This latest Ruby Braff quartet, as good as any he's ever led, is nothing short of classic." -- Bob Blumenthal (jazz critic, whose writing currently appears in The Boston Globe, CD Review and The Atlantic Monthly.)

"The jazz faithful need no introduction to the genius of Ruby Braff. His unique sound, with its remarkable command of the low register, its soaring and descending leaps, blazing runs and its mixture of playful enthusiasm and thoughtful lyricism, was thrilling two decades ago and it is intact today, with an added richness that has come with maturity. Fiddles have never kept better company." - Charles Champlin, jazz critic and retired Arts Editor of the Los Angeles Times.

"The Ruby Braff song book by now reaches out across dozens of CDs. We're lucky that he lived through a classic age and was able to bring forward its colors to us, but luckier still that he lives in an age where beautiful sounds are recorded with a fidelity and life that have never been known before. His embellishments are delicate and subtle and few jazz musicians have benifited more from modern studio techniques. His, more than that of any other soloist, is chamber jazz." - Steve Voce, has presented his own weekly radio program, Jazz Panorama on BBC for 33 years and has written a stimulating and controversial monthly column in Jazz Journal International for 46 years.

Right after the horror of 9/11, Ruby went into the studio and recorded some of his best music to date with some superb backing. That he was able to play was in itself a miracle, the music he created was an even bigger miracle!

"Sammy Sherman, Father of noted singer-pianist Daryl Sherman, had his own voice on the trombone and an uncanny ability to drive trumpet players crazy by being able to hit notes higher than they could play. "The language of jazz came naturally to Samuel Sherman; he spoke it like a native. This record at last celebrates a very special artist and man an American original." - Dan Morgenstern, a long-time friend of the Sherman family and the Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University

In the early 1990s and during his State Department Jazz Ambassador's tour of eleven West African countries in 2001, Scott began to reflect on the fact that Louis Armstrong had either written or co-written a lot of great music,
much of which is seldom performed. The sublime pleasure of this album, and what provides it such artistic distinction, is the creative imagination that Scott Robinson applies in uniquely arranging Armstrong's great tunes and performing them on an impressive variety of instruments in ways never before heard. If Armstrong's instrumental gifts as a virtuoso trumpeter are sometimes overlooked, his compositional talents are even more so. Many of his nearly five decades of recordings are as startling, even avant-garde, today as when they were made. Armstrong was and is king of American music. Yet few of us realize the immensity of his accomplishment. Scott's genius
may help to rectify this omission

"This is an extraordinary record by an extraordinary musician. What makes Scott Robinson so special is not that he plays so many instruments so very well (though this, of course, is no mean feat in and of itself) but that he employs this versatility in such a creative way.... This is the work of a dedicated artist who uses his skills to create new colors and textures and, always, to express his feelings." - Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.

Scott Robinson has managed to bring the C-melody saxophone, that odd instrument of the 1920's, blazingly back to life in a typically original fashion. We have organ trios, a string quartet, trios with acoustic guitar and either bass or bass marimba, quartets with electric guitar, quintets which add a trumpet, and a series of duets with piano. Add to that the program, which ranges from Saint-Sans to Ellington to Beiderbecke to Scott Robinson, and you can see that you're in for a hell of a ride. There is an element of music coming down from the sky and being transmitted through Scott that has tangible spiritual qualities. Music flows right out of him; here he has channeled it through the C-melody saxophone. From the album notes by Loren Schoenberg, jazz historian, witer, tenor saxophonist and big band leader.

The group FIVE PLAY are comprised of 5 girls from the big band DIVA, bot led by that super-talented drummer, Sherrie Maricle. As in the past, these girls don't disappoint and swing hard! A great group and CD.

Skitch Henderson was the first leader of the Tonight Show orchestra with Steve Allen and later with Johnny Carson. He is the founder and conductor of the New York Pops and has also worked as guest conductor with most of the leading orchestras of this country and the world presenting pops and symphonic concerts. In his first recording on piano in many years, he is joined by what he calls his "Fiddlers Three" - Bucky Pizzarelli, Gene Bertoncini and Peter Appleyard, all of whom are stars of the first magnitude in their own right. Added to the mix are rising star bassist Nicki Parrott, all-star drummer Joe Ascione, and a swinging hand-picked violin quartet. "The melodies come from the song book of "remember when" and the virtuosity of the player is an education if you wish to enter the proper school of jazz. The arrangements with the strings bring back memories of the wonderful radio days - the Whiteman band, and the creativity of all the radio orchestras. It is strange how old becomes new or ancient becomes modern when the right people gather. We hope you'll agree."- Skitch Henderson

'The selections you will hear on this disc bring back the style of improvisation which began with Dixieland and, with imagination and improvisation, propelled us through the great days of jazz. So, dance the night away. Live it up. Live up the past and celebrate the future." - Walter Cronkite

Not since the heyday of Jazz at the Philharmonic has there been a jazz talent pool - indeed, a multitude of stars to compare with the thirty here assembled under the banner of the happily reconstituted Statesmen of Jazz, and this marvelous cast, folks, ain't even all the Statesmen (and women)!" - Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University

"History is no longer an abstraction, but actual - not virtual - reality. For here are the Statesmen of Jazz, a truly extraordinary bunch, ranging in age from the early 90s to the middle 60s. These artists in the aggregate have performed with such legends of jazz as King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Clarence Williams, Lips Page, Andy Kirk, Cab Calloway, Roy Eldridge, Tiny Parham, Billie Holiday, Charlie Barnet, Eddie South, Lester Young and many others. Thereys hardly a great name in jazz with whom one or more of these Statesmen hasnyt had contact." -- Dan Morgenstern (Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University

"Here, for the first time, you'll all get a peek at the music of my family, the Metz's. Many of these are the tunes that drifted into my bedroom during those "Late Night Parties" at our house. I am proud to announce, for the first time, the enter Metz clan got together for this fun-filled and exciting session and there's nothing like getting the best in the business to lend a had for a little family project. By that I mean John Allred and Terry Myers. Enjoy it! We certainly did." - Michael Metz

Theo carries on the tradition of his grandfather, Doc Cheatham. Carrying Theo certainly does, without copying his grandfather, in his own disticntive style. In addition, there are two tracks with the marrvelous Benny Powell on trombone.

"Wild Bill's prime gifts to jazz will always be remembered by future generations of musicians influenced by his distinctive style. I am sure that his proudest endowment is his band's continuing heartfelt affection and admiration. These are the men who worked with ?Wild Bill.? They traveled with him, learned from him, and were inspired by him; they benefited greatly from Bill?s encouragement and assistance. These are tunes they played with him in saloons, on concert stages, and at festivals in the U.S. and Europe. Many of these musicians are leaders in their own right. Yet, these artists of world class stature proudly unite to sustain their mentor's image. In these capable hands, the '... fire will burn on and on!'? That is unquestionably 'Wild Bill' Davison's greatest legacy!" - Floyd Levin, award-winning jazz writer for more than 40 years, jazz producer, lyricist and contributor of scores of oral history interviews to the Jazz Archive at Tulane University in New Orleans

"This CD, under Tommy Newsom's own name, is a long-overdue validation of his true stature. The tempos may vary, the moods may change - but the key word that describes Tommy's playing is always - 'taste!' ...this is a unique CD expertly played by six skilled instrumentalists intent on establishing and maintaining an integral sound that, above all - swings!" -- Floyd Levin , jazz journalist, lyricist and producer, whose new book Classic Jazz: A Personal View (University of California Press) has received wide praise from critics.

"What we have here is something of a dream band. No, not that all-American-all-star-poll-winners type of dream band. A dream of the star players, their choice of leader-mate, and their choices of support players....These recording sessions were highlights of the careers of the participants. Two words suffice for TOMMY NEWSOM and KEN PEPLOWSKI: it was, and is, 'high time'!"
- Arnold Jay Smith, former editor of Down Beat, celebrating during 1998-9 the XXth season of his "Jazz Insights" lectures at the New School in N.Y.C.

A new Fresh Batch of Christmas goodies whipped up by master chef and trumpeter Charlie Bertini and a group of jazzmen who apply their inimitable talents to a delightful collection of holiday tunes. Silent Night, Ave Maria, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Frosty the Snowman and 13 more rendered as jazz treats in ways that you have never heard before.

Sweeten your holiday season with this tasty collection of jazz treats. This is Christmas as you have never tasted it before - 20 freshly baked holiday classics sure to appeal to your appetite for hot jazz and cool licks

"Listening to Walt Levinsky In Concert As He Wanted To Be Remembered, you can't help but be transported by the music. Another time, another place, another set of warm feelings begin to envlop you as Walt and his talented friends create swinging and moving moods. This album will tell you something about him too, but mostly about his vast talent and his love for the music and the audience. - Jay Handelman, theater and television critic for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

"Taken singly, Warren Vach and his horn, muted or not, provide a dazzling treat. Add the superb piano fireworks of Bill Charlap and the duets these two bring us are more than listenable, they are positively joyful. And now, should you bring on the elegant drumming of Eddie Locke, the subtle bass beat of Dennis Irwin, and finally, drop into this mix the lush tones of Harry Allen's sax, brace yourself, friends, you are now in for an hour or so of superb music, elegant jazz provided by some of the best of our composers.Max Wilk, author of They're Playing Our Song and OK! The Story of Oklahoma who writes frequently about the Broadway theatre.

It seems like only yesterday that Arbors Records celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Wolverines Jazz Band of Bern, Switzerland. Now, with this recording released in the year 2001, with undiminished vigor, this incredible group of seven of Europe´s most talented jazzmen, are celebrating their 40th anniversary. It is all the more amazing when you consider that its frontline of Hans Zurbrugg, Beat Uhlmann and Rudolph Knopfel and banjo-guitar player Walter Sterchi have been with the band since 1961, over the entire 40 years of its existence, and that the last personnel change was made more than 25 years ago. Not only does this make this group of musicians an institution in Bern and unique in the history of jazz but it is also a tribute to the continued vitality of its style of dixieland music. In honor of the occasion, the Wolverines were joined for this swinging program by the legendary Clark Terry, and Arvell Shaw together with Frank Capp, Scott Robinson and Duffy Jackson Jr. to demonstrate once again, in the words of leader Hanz Zurbrugg, that "the time of Dixieland is not yet over." - Producer´s Note.

This recording is a tribute to the Wolverines Jazz Band of Bern, Switzerland, seven of Europe's finest musicians, who have not only continued as a band for more than three decades but have become an institution that belongs to Bern as much as its famous "bear pit." They are joined for their 35th anniversary celebration by Bob Wilber's New Generation Jazz Band in an enthusiastic, swinging program of traditional jazz demonstrating that "the time of Dixieland is not yet over."

This is a superb group recorded at Andy's in Chicago. All tracks recorded live except Track 4, 5, 7 & 8, which were recorded in a studio. To quote Jazz Critic Harriet Choice "They attack. They swing. There's not a weak link in the band. Eddie Condon would have approved."

This is Kenny Fitzgerald's last recording before he died of cancer. The CD ended up being a tribute to Kenny and deservedly so. Everybody played their best in his memory. All tunes composed by Matt Bokulic. A marvelous CD.

This is the trio that normally backs Jack Brokensha for his Quartet recordings. This time they have cut out on their own, recording a few standards and the rest are Bokulic originals. This is an excellent recording and shows the trios consumate skills.

The world of music, with all its fascinating charm, beckoned Eddie Pawl at an early age. In fact, the fever so engulfed him that, as a young man, he toured the musical pathways, playing his tenor saxophone and clarinet, with such stalwarts as Claude Thornhill, The Dorseys and Bob Strong. Eddie, the "Windjammer," still today, despite being a sportsman, busy executive, and restauranteer, finds time to entertain at Sullivans in Sarasota, Florida. Musicology is not just a profession - it is a way of life.

Diane is in some very fine company on this one. 14 tracks of some fine tunes with everybody in the band playing their heart out for Diane. She is the consummate singer, always on pitch and enunciates clearly. This is without a doubt her best CD yet. Don't miss this one!

Nobody better than Diane to pay homage to Doris Day, without sounding like her. Backed sympathetically by Charlie Prawdzik and Mark Neuenschwander. Diane and Charlie discovered their mutual love of Doris Day and this is the beautiful result.

When people say "Detroit's Queen Of The Blues" they are not exaggerating one bit. RJ's band is perfect for her. This is some mighty fine blues going down here. This is a host CD and is specially priced.

A live Massachusetts concert with the legendary front line in an unusually aggressive mood, ably abetted by Evans Schwarz, piano; Champ Jones, bass; and Mickey Sheen, drums, in 73 minutes of never before released performances. Notes by Jim Weaver. Available in CD only.

This CD brings attention to a neglected period of BB's career. Although BB's recordings as a leader are better known, many afficianados prefer his work as a sideman. His most elusive work comes from the records he made between 1931 and 1936 as a ubiquitous studio musician with the American Record Co. (ARC), Melotone, Banner, Romeo, Perfect and also on Columbia and their dimestore labels. Berigan specialist Bozy While has selected 24 ARC Studio band hot dance tracks with the best of Bunny's solos.

Originally issued on two LP's, one for the New Hampshire Library of Traditional Jazz and the other on Rae-Cox 1120. Traditional jazz by the one and only Edmond Hall and his friends Omer Simeon, Herbert Hall, Dick Cary , Jimmy Raney, Al Hall, Jimmy Crawford, Johnny Windhurst, Vic Dickenson, Kenny Kersey and John Field.

Indiana, Zing went the strings of my heart, Tiny's blues, The way you look tonight, For Betty's sake, Lover, Lemon Drop, Unknown title. Also includes cuts from the two very rare Parrot 78s: Harlem Nocturne, Things ain't what they used to be, I love you, Mr. Jump.

This is a fantastic CD culled from broadcasts between 1957 and 1972, with Tubby's Quartet, Quintet, Jazz Couriers, Big Band plus Tony Kinsey Trio and Harry South's band. If you are a fan of Hayes' this is a must. If you haven't discovered Tubby as yet you are missing something.

"When [his] recording session for the CD 'With Duke In Mind' was finished, Dado felt very relaxed and happy. ALl the pressure was gone. He started to fool around on the piano and then fell into a blues. It was tremendous! What could we do to preserve this great music? There was tape and time left and a decision was quickly made. Dado agreed to record some additional 'after hours piano', just playing what came into his mind, just improvising, just playing 'the way he is'. Peter Pfister let the tapes run again and you can hear the superb results on this present CD." - Jorg Koran, Producer.

"When Siegfried [Mohr] visited Jon Weber in Chicago...he called me and raved about the pianistic potential of this young man. To prove it, Jon played to me over the phone. I was dumbfounded! He was an extraordinary talent. ...My decision was quickly made. Jon Weber had to be recorded by Jazz Connaisseur." - Jorg Koran

"We felt that Benri Chaix' approach to jazz would perfectly fit with Lucien Barbarin's natural, unspoilt talent and that Henri Chaix, being as experienced as his is, would give the young man from New Orleans a reliable and inspiring support.With the group were Henri Chaix' usual and favorite accompanists, with whom he has recorded before: Alain Dubois on bass and Romano Cavicchiolo on drums.In our opinion this musical meeting proved to be a very happy one. The recordings have that special flavor and charm that is to typical of New Orleans music." - Doris Koran

This CD is to demonstrate Rosy McHargue's genius as an arranger and his unique talent for finding obscure songs that deserve to be heard. None of these arrangements have ever been commercially recorded. A fine CD!

On the morning of February 26, 1917, five young men from New Orleans calling themselves the Original Dixieland Jass Band walked through the double doors at 42nd West 38th Street, New York, to record a new kind of music they had brought with them. The Victor Talking Machine Company did not know what it was in for and neither did the world. Here, Dan and the guys let loose with a bunch of their tunes. WOW!

This a really fun group. They play well and they swing. There are different permutations on the various tracks. We would like single out Ken Aoki on banjo, a mster of his instrument and the super talented Michiko Ogawa on piano, who can do it all. We played this one several times because it is well played and is enjoyable. No copying here, all are individuals and everybody is having a ball!

This is one of the premier trad bands in Japan led by Kiyotaka Soga. The band is excellent and has a nice choice of tunes, ranging from the the obscure "Big Chief Battle Axe", associated with Bunk Johnson, to Rags, traditional and gospel. The piano of Michiko Ogawa is outstanding throughout. Excellent recording quality.

Dan Barrett in his review in the Mississippi Rag said "Although most of the singers of Jazz's Golden Age have either retired or are no longer with us, there are a few women today who seem to embody the best aspects of their predecessors. Diane Linscott is one of them"

From a fantastic concert with Richard Bravo (bongos, congas & drums)Phillip Strange (piano on a "Child Is Born") Chuck Bergeron (piano on "From The Hood") David Hardman (drums and 'metals' on "From The Hood". All the musicians are topflight!

Jimmy Lyons, President of the Tampa Bay Jazz Society has this to say: "Don't let her diminutive size fool you - she is a musical tigress. She will take you on a safari, reaching all corners of the jazz world"

Here are 19 tracks from a concert at Sheldon Concert Hall. A lot of stride piano and a Boogie Woogie number thrown in for good measure. "Alfie" is a composition by Stephanie for her pet rabbit Alfie. It is a beautiful Blues number.

This is a rmake of TCD001 with added tracks. TCD001 is no longer available. Stephane, as usual, plays just beautifully. The CD 3 tracks of Ragtime, 3 tracks of Jazz and 5 tracks of Classical music. Stephanie shows her great versatility here.

The band set out to re-create classic and a few lesser-known performances of the swing era, played as they would have been years ago but recorded here in high fidelity while using 1940's vintage microphones. Vocalists Paul and Melissa King and the hot solos peppered throughout play integral roles in setting the tone that drives these renditions home.